LITMIR.BIZ

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he promoted a variant of African socialism, arguing that since precapitalist African societies held land communally, they were “naturally socialistic as illustrated in their social practices and customs.” His ideas were in line with other proponents of African socialism who stressed the classless harmony and unity of African societies before Europeans came on the scene. There are only a few hints in his writings of a critical assessment of capitalism and its implications for African societies. However, in one essay, he noted that since African socialism was a “legacy” to be tapped, “our task is to develop this socialism by the infusion of new and modern socialistic ideas.”60 He did not define just what these ideas were, but he was very clear that national liberation had to precede any implementation of socialist ideas, however they were defined.61

      LEMBEDE’S DEATH

      By 1947, having completed his education and settled into his law practice, Lembede was poised to further his professional and political ambitions. And, after many years of personal privation, he was finally in a position to look after his family’s welfare. He began sending money to his widowed mother, he paid lobola (bridewealth) for his brother Alpheus and he promised his sister Cathrene and her husband, Alpheus Makhanya, that he would bring one of their children to Johannesburg and pay for his education.

      He was also re-establishing his roots in Umbumbulu. He built a four room house for himself at the Lembede homestead. He bought a Buick and instructed his family to begin building a road to his new home.62 His last letter home read:

      Mame,

      Sengithenge imoto enowayilensi. Ngiyofika ngayo lapho ekhaya. Makumbiwe umgwaqo uze ungene ekhaya. Ngizothumela u £20 wokumba umgwaqo.

      Mother,

      I have now bought a car with a wireless [radio]. I will be driving next time I come home. You must dig the road until it reaches home. I will be sending £20 for this purpose.63

      And he was finalising arrangements for marriage to twenty-four-year old Cherry Mndaweni, a nurse trained at McCord Hospital in Durban. The two had met sometime in 1945 on a bus going from Ladysmith to nearby Driefontein, Mndaweni’s birthplace, where Lembede was handling a legal case. According to her, it was love at first sight; and after Lembede returned to Johannesburg, they started writing letters to each other. What made Lembede so appealing to her was his spiritual nature and his concern with family issues. She also recognised that Lembede felt comfortable with her because she had grown up in a rural area and had not taken on urban ways. Her Methodist upbringing made no difference to him, but she expected to convert to Catholicism after they married.

      After finishing her training at McCord, Cherry moved to Germiston to be close to Lembede. She heard from friends that he was involved in politics, but she was still puzzled when he told her that when he was arrested one day she would have to take care of their children. She only understood the meaning of his remark as the political struggle intensified in the 1950s.

      Their marriage plans moved forward in 1947 when Lembede visited her father, a clerk at the Cimmaron Jack mine in Germiston, to initiate lobola negotiations. He also delegated several friends to visit her family at Driefontein to finalise arrangements. However, he postponed his own planned visit to Driefontein in order to serve as master of ceremonies at a reception on Sunday 26 July, celebrating the awarding of a BA to his treasured friend, A P Mda.64 Mda had decided to follow in Lembede’s footsteps and pursue a career in law.

      On the morning of 27 July, Lembede fell ill at his law office. Both Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu claimed that they were passing by his law office and noticed Lembede doubled over in pain on his couch.65 They and Lembede’s clerk called on Dr S Molema for assistance, and Lembede was taken to Coronation Hospital where he died on Wednesday, 29 July 1947, at 5:30 am. The cause of death was listed as “cardiac failure” with “intestinal obstruction” a contributing factor. Lembede’s abdominal complaints were longstanding. He had nearly died during an abdominal operation in 1940 and he’d had a similar operation in 1941.66

      Lembede’s last words, taken down by his attending nurse, Rabate, were characteristically directed to his family:

      All the money must be given to Nicholas, and he should use this money for going to school with. He should look well after my mother because I am taking the same path which my forefathers took. And the clothing should be given to my brother … and he should try and do all the good in order to lead the African nation. God bless you all.67

      Lembede was laid to rest at Croesus cemetery on 3 August.68 His pallbearers and speakers represented a broad spectrum of black political and educational leaders: Pixley ka Seme, Elias Moretsele, Oliver Tambo, Templeton Ntwasa, Hamilton Makhanya, Yusuf Dadoo, A P Mda, Obed Mooki, Sofasonke Mpanza, Jordan Ngubane, A B Xuma, William Nkomo, Paul Mosaka and B W Vilakazi. Lembede may have been fired by an intense conviction, but he rarely allowed that to stand in the way of him developing strong friendships with his political rivals.

      Following Lembede’s death, Mda took over as acting president of the Youth League until he was formally elected president in early 1948. Although he and Lembede are often paired as the Romulus and Remus of African nationalism, they did have differing visions. Mda’s views were not as “angular” as Lembede’s; he was uncomfortable with some of Lembede’s extreme stances. Although he agreed with Lembede that there was a major gulf between blacks, coloureds and Indians that could not be bridged in the short run, he had long argued that African nationalism “must not be the narrow kind, the unkind kind that discriminated against other racial groups.” He desired “a broad nationalism, imbued with the spirit of Christ’s philosophy of life and recognising the universal brotherhood of men.”69 After he became Youth League president, he elaborated on this point in a letter he wrote to Godfrey Pitje, a lecturer at Fort Hare and Mda’s successor as Youth League president:

      Our Nationalism has nothing to do with Fascism and Nationalism [sic] Socialism (Hitleric version) nor with the imperialistic and neo-Fascist Nationalism of the Afrikaners (the Malanite type). Ours is the pure Nationalism of an oppressed people, seeking freedom from foreign oppression. We as African Nationalists do not hate the European – we have no racial hatred: – we only hate white oppression and white domination, and not the white people themselves! We do not hate other human beings as such – whether they are Indians, Europeans or Coloureds.70

      In drafting the Youth League’s “Basic Policy”, adopted in 1948, Mda took the occasion to incorporate these views as well as distance the Youth League from some of Lembede’s radical positions. Mda inserted a section, “Two Steams of African Nationalism”, in which he rejected the one variant of African nationalism identified with

      Marcus Garvey’s slogan – “Africa for the Africans”. It is based on the “Quit Africa” slogan and on the cry “Hurl the Whiteman into the sea”. This brand of African Nationalism is extreme and ultra-revolutionary.71

      Because Lembede often referred to Garvey in his speeches, this was a subtle way for Mda to signal a departure from some of Lembede’s positions.

      Mda also moved to strengthen the organisational network of the Youth League by travelling to all the provinces to shore up existing chapters, start new ones and cultivate established ANC leaders. By then Mda was operating from his birthplace, Herschel district, where he was teaching, so he developed his most extensive network in the Eastern Cape. The Youth League’s most energetic chapter was at Fort Hare, where there was already a group of students and staff receptive to the message of African nationalism.

      In addition, Mda was a key figure in lobbying the ANC to adopt a militant programme of action. The impetus for the programme came in the aftermath of the Nationalist Party’s election victory in May 1948. At its December conference later that year, the ANC passed a resolution supporting the drafting of a programme of action to combat the new government and its avowed apartheid policies. Over the next year, Mda and other Youth Leaguers worked with senior ANC leaders to fashion a statement that committed the ANC to combat apartheid with a range of weapons: boycotts, strikes, work stoppages, civil disobedience and non-cooperation. The ANC approved the programme of action at a tumultuous conference in December 1949.

      At the same time as Mda was putting the Youth League on a different footing, he also tried to

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